Text/Wang Xinxi
Recently, the news that Samsung will return to the Chinese market with a new machine has sparked heated discussions in the industry.
According to Bloomberg, Samsung's share of the Chinese market has fallen below 1% in recent years. But Samsung is working on a strategy centered on high-end devices to prepare for a rebound in the market.
According to Korean media reports, Samsung is about to release a high-end mobile phone tailored specifically for Chinese consumers as a stepping stone to return to the Chinese market. It is reported that this mobile phone is a foldable mobile phone and is named W series. South Korea's Samsung hopes that demand for high-end devices will drive double-digit sales growth in the Galaxy series of mobile phones, which may need to rely on the Chinese market.
Samsung's mobile business president Lu Taiwen said that in the face of rising material costs and camera upgrades, in order to attract consumers, Samsung still maintained the price of the S23 unchanged.
The current Galaxy S23 has been released, the whole series is equipped with the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform upgrade, the standard version has a built-in 3900mAh battery, and the Galaxy S23+ has a built-in 4700mAh battery.
In fact, from the current ideas and preparations for Samsung's return to China, Samsung lacks reflection and understanding of the Chinese market. From the views of netizens and industry insiders, almost no one is optimistic about Samsung's new mobile phone to re-bet on China.
Objectively speaking, the performance of Samsung Galaxy S23 can be said to be the strongest level of the Android camp, benchmarking products in the Chinese market, Samsung is superior in Soc, the domestic mobile phone flagship standard Snapdragon 8 + Gen1, 8Gen2, the current Samsung equipped with the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform upgrade, its X3 super core frequency increased to 3.36GHz, 0.17GHz higher than the ordinary version of Snapdragon 8 Gen2 3.19GHz.
But the shortcomings of Samsung Galaxy S23 are obvious: the battery life is not comparable, 8GB memory starts, and fast charging is not enough. In the past, Samsung S20 series started with 12G memory as standard, and S21 series has come standard with 8G memory, from this year's S23 series, it is still 8G memory start.
In addition, the Samsung S23 standard version is not equipped with UFS 4.0 like the S23+ and S23 Ultra, only providing UFS 3.1, and UFS 4.0 is twice the storage speed of UFS 3.1.
In addition, is fast charging, Samsung S23+ and S23 Ultra is to support 45W wired fast charging, while S23 standard version only 25W wired charging, cut 45W fast charge, cut UFS4.0, standard version support 25W charging, screen configuration is also shrunk, Samsung S23 standard version fact is bright rise and dark fall.
At the chip level, Samsung has the strongest performance, but it is also used by Qualcomm, and domestic mobile phones will be equipped with standard sooner or later, Samsung Galaxy S23 actually does not have its own exclusive advantages in software and hardware, but from the pricing point of view, Samsung S23 is not very pragmatic: 12GB+512GB version 11199 yuan, 12GB+1TB version 13199 yuan.
This kind of pricing is placed in the Chinese market, and consumers' first intuition is that it is better to buy the iPhone 14 Pro. Because in essence, after so many years of fading out of the Chinese market, Samsung can no longer be regarded as a high-end brand in the eyes of most people. In fact, Samsung has not seriously summarized why Samsung has succeeded in the Chinese market in the past and why it has failed.
Why has Samsung succeeded in the past in the Chinese market, and why has it failed?
Samsung's success is because he seized the dividend window of China's rapid development of smart phones, Samsung since 2011 with Note mobile phones, Galaxy S series, Note series mobile phones, leading the global mobile phone large-screen trend trend, in the first quarter of 2013, Samsung with a market share of 19% ranked first in the Chinese market, of which shipments of products under $200 increased by 47%.
From the past, Samsung's success in the Chinese market stemmed from two points, one is that China's mobile phone manufacturers at that time were the four major manufacturers of China Coollink, whether it was products or supply chains, competitiveness was not strong enough, Samsung had the advantage of the whole industry chain, Samsung at that time in the Chinese market has been cultivated for a long time, has large-scale offline channels and brand advantages. Second, under the tactics of the sea of aircraft, relying on the advantage of large screens to quickly seize the market, but Samsung's core market is still in the low-end market.
With the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple first brought a large-screen mobile phone, in the Chinese market for an iPhone experience popularization, consumers experienced Apple, many users can not return to Samsung, because in the early stage of the past smart phone, in fact, from HTC to Samsung mobile phone have left consumers with a negative impression of lag, not smooth, heating and various product problems.
Especially in 2013, Samsung mobile phones appeared in China font door incident, Samsung note series and S series mobile phones have design defects, resulting in frequent mobile phone crashes, and for this product problem, Samsung did not solve it well at that time.
Relatively speaking, Apple's software and hardware experience at that time was much better, although today, Samsung's software and hardware experience has improved a lot, but the bad experience at that time made most users who transferred to the Apple camp unwilling to return to Samsung.
Around 2015, Huami OV replaced China Coollink, which is behind the rise of China's mobile phone industry chain, the continuous improvement of domestic mobile phone product performance, and the continuous attack on the city in the low-end market, in addition, domestic mobile phones are better than Samsung at the level of localized system optimization, Samsung's software ecology was weak at that time, and domestic mobile phones encroached on Samsung's low-end market share with cost-effective advantages.
When the high-end and low-end were encroached upon by Apple and domestic mobile phones, in 2016, there was another Samsung Note7 explosion, which was a product explosion + differentiated treatment for the Chinese market (Samsung recovered in other global markets, but did not recall Chinese market products), which angered Chinese users.
Samsung also fell sharply in the two years after this incident, and the financial report for the Q3 quarter of 2020 showed that Samsung's mobile phone market share in the domestic market was only 1.2%. After that, Samsung basically withdrew from the Chinese market.
If you summarize Samsung's success is actually in the domestic mobile phone weak time, seize the dividend period of the Chinese market, but in the later stage, the iPhone's large-screen software and hardware experience presses Samsung, in the low-end market, the cost performance of domestic mobile phones also presses Samsung, coupled with the quality of Samsung products, boosting Samsung's downward trend in the Chinese market.
Samsung's growth in overseas markets has peaked and needs the cake of the Chinese market
Without relying on the Chinese market, Samsung's mobile phone market share is also the first in the world, objectively speaking, this shows Samsung's resilience, strength and global ability.
Samsung itself is a powerful manufacturer, it is very strong in the hardware industry chain, but the software system is a short board, and this aspect has also lost to the customized system experience of domestic mobile phones in the past.
However, because overseas Android phones are different from domestic ones, using Google's unified Android original system, Google's GMS+ original Android Auto ecological experience itself is not bad, making up for Samsung's shortcomings in the software system experience. Samsung's long-term cultivation of global channels and brands has also helped Samsung quickly occupy overseas market share with a cost-effective strategy.
Now Samsung wants to return to the Chinese market, because of the overseas market, the market that Samsung can win is basically won, and there is not much room for growth. For Samsung today, China is a large, fully incremental market.
Therefore, if Samsung wants to seek growth, it needs the big cake of the Chinese market.
Samsung re-bets on China, why not be bullish?
The reason why Samsung is not optimistic is that it does not recognize its own positioning in the case of the weakening of the influence of high-end brands in the Chinese market, conforms to the national conditions and product needs of the localization of the Chinese market, or follows the past gameplay, high-end mobile phones in the Chinese market can not be played in terms of configuration and price, but the price is much higher than that of domestic flagships.
The price of Samsung S23 series new machine super large cup is thousands more expensive than the domestic flagship, and the top configuration is as high as 13199 yuan! This kind of pricing for Samsung actually lacks pragmatic and correct self-positioning. In the case that domestic memory has been popularized 16G, Samsung's starting price of more than 5,000 medium cups and large cups, 12G memory has not been popularized, which has triggered widespread complaints from consumers.
Compared with Xiaomi 13, X90, OnePlus 11 and other domestic mid-range machines, Samsung has been emphasizing its screen advantages in the past, but now BOE's flagship screen has caught up, and it is rumored that iPhone 15 began trial production, using the screen supplied by BOE, Samsung's past screen advantages have also been consumed.
The imaging system is unprecedented in the Chinese market, and Samsung has little advantage over vivo X90 Pro, Honor magic4, and Xiaomi 13 Pro in this regard.
From the past to the present, there is also a gap between its ease of use and localization and the experience of domestic Huawei OV.
On the Soc, as mentioned earlier, the Samsung S23 series is slightly better, but they are equipped with Qualcomm chips, after all, TSMC technology is stronger than Samsung Orion, of course, to admit that Samsung has horizontal integration self-research capabilities, from chips to screens are self-developed, hardware self-research and self-sufficiency is far stronger than domestic mobile phones.
But at the brand level, Samsung's hardware self-research and self-sufficiency capabilities can not allow Samsung to maintain a high-end brand premium in the Chinese market, because on the SoC chip, based on the consideration of optimal performance, it is also relying on Qualcomm supply, and domestic mobile phones are no different, in the Chinese market, maintaining a high-end premium can also sell products well only Huawei and Apple with their own chips in the past.
Therefore, under this reality, Samsung can still give it a shot at the mid-range market with high-end mobile phones, which may be the premise of regaining the user's favor. After all, Samsung still has its own exclusive experience and characteristics in terms of product design and hardware supply chain integration.
After all, now Apple's iPhone 14 has also reduced prices, and in the case of a downturn in the industry, if Samsung wants to sell products in the Chinese market, it essentially needs to benefit consumers, gain word of mouth, and repair the brand image, but Samsung can't do it.
We have observed that Samsung rarely makes profits in the Chinese market, and this time is no exception. In the past, Samsung has been competing with domestic mobile phones in markets such as the Indian market, and Samsung has been fighting a price war with Xiaomi OV in order to seize the market.
However, sharp-eyed consumers have found that Samsung S23 is still treated differently in preferential policies between China and overseas. Booking on English websites in foreign markets can double your Storage and buy other wearable devices with a 90% discount.
The Samsung S23Uitra of 512G can be bought overseas at a price of 256G, which is nearly 1,000 cheaper than the domestic counterpart version.
In other words, Samsung's growth in overseas markets has peaked, but the Chinese market does not actually have many opportunities for Samsung.
Samsung's speculation and lack of reflection
After the Samsung Note7 incident made Samsung's reputation slide into the abyss, from the current point of view, Samsung is lacking in reflection, and has not taken the necessary marketing measures to make up for its brand image in the Chinese market, in recent years, Samsung has not shown the sincerity of taking root in China for a long time, deeply cultivating the brand and reputation.
In the past three years, Samsung's mobile phone and brand operations in the Chinese market have almost completely disappeared, almost completely abandoned, and it has not put the mobile phone business in the Chinese market for long-term consideration - neither brand reputation to make up for it, nor long-term operation plan.
Today, with the peak of globalization, it wants to return to China, which reflects a speculative psychology, and Samsung lacks sincerity in the Chinese market.
As mentioned earlier, because Samsung has not had new developments for a long time in the past two years, nor has it cultivated the brand in the Chinese market for a long time, from the marketing and product level to win favor, which leads to once there is Samsung's actions and news, people can always habitually think of the Samsung Note7 explosion door incident, which makes it difficult for Samsung to promote the layout of mobile phones.
In all cases, Samsung returns to the Chinese market, the probability of success is very small, at present, Samsung in the Chinese market is still based on folding screen products, but from the brand, pricing to the industrial chain, it is difficult to say that Samsung has advantages, from Samsung's pricing strategy and service strategy for Chinese local consumers and localized product operation level, it is different from Apple to ponder the psychological needs of Chinese consumers, cater to local consumers, Samsung does not have a deep understanding of the Chinese market, lack of correct self-awareness and positioning.
Re-betting on the Chinese market, Samsung actually needs a humble attitude to make all-round changes, including from service to marketing, from channels to R&D to talent full localization, it needs to comprehensively and deeply re-understand the Chinese market and Chinese market consumers, but from the current point of view, Samsung is still far from achieving this step.
Author: Wang Xinxi TMT Senior Reviewer This article is not reprinted without permission